Max Verstappen enjoyed a breakthrough season in 2016 with victory at the Spanish Grand Prix and many risky, audacious overtakes throughout the season.

Helmut Marko, who is renowned for bringing fresh talent to the Formula One grid through the Toro Rosso and Red Bull stables, has insisted that the young Dutchman is above and beyond even the driver’s who have criticised him over the season.

“He’s shown on many occasions that he is light years away from your common Formula One driver by winning his first race sitting in a Red Bull. Yes, the two Mercedes drivers took each other out so this win probably fell in our laps, but Brazil showed that he is not only above average but that he will be a great one.

What I see is that he brings a completely new approach to the ‘reigning establishment’! He shows them again how racing should be – how it was in the past. I remember when guys like Senna and Schumacher came, they also had a different approach and were a shock awakening for the establishment of their time.

They also were criticised massively. Now we have a young, hungry, sexy young driver, with a devil-may-care attitude about the spoils of former champions – whether they have won once, twice, three times or even four times.”

Verstappen is expected to deliver again this season and possibly challenge for the title should Red Bull up their game for 2017. Ricciardo enjoyed his best season in 2016, so Verstappen has a big task in beating his teammate next year too. The Mercedes duo will surely be up there again too. Hamilton in particular will be fired up after losing the title to Rosberg.

You won’t believe how much more Hamilton earns than Verstappen:

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Esteban Ocon (Force India)

$185,000 - A lot of dosh, may have to be taken away to pay off Vijay Mallya's debts...

Marcus Ericsson (Sauber)

$285,000 - Raking it in despite a pointless campaign in 2016.

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Nice.
(Source: Instagram)

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Rengar Ban 1 (aspect)

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Source: HLTV

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Image source/Twitter

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Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes)

$8,500,000 (plus bonuses) - Bottas is up 5-mil a year following his move from Williams.

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Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

$31,000,000 (plus bonuses) - His dogs eat better than most of the planet. Staggering sum.